Today, to learn a language, it is enough to have access to the Internet from any device. The web is full of sites that help you learn the intricacies of foreign languages with the help of video tutorials. And applications for mobile devices offer to master the program in an exciting way, passing interesting tasks. But there is one unique language, which differs from others in a non-verbal way of transmitting information. This is sign language. How to learn it from scratch? Where to start and what are its features, this article will tell.
Russian dactyl alphabet
The dactyl alphabet is a set of 33 letters corresponding to the Russian alphabet and visually reproduced using hand gestures. Therefore, communication by means of a dactyl is considered verbal. To designate a particular letter, the position of the fingers changes.
Most of the letters of the dactyl alphabet are similar to printed ones, which makes it easier to learn. With the help of the "finger alphabet" communication takes place between a deaf and hearing person.
However, this method of transmitting information is secondary, more often used for words or phrases that do not have special gestures, for example, for the names of institutions or proper names. Video tutorials will help you quickly learn the Russian dactyl alphabet, you can find them on the following resources on the Internet:
- Youtube is the most popular video hosting where you can find convenient video courses for learning dactyl;
- “Sign City” is a resource convenient for learning sign language, with a simple video dictionary interface and ongoing user support;
- Groups in the popular social network VKontakte - video tutorials, dating, interesting stories from the deaf and hard of hearing.
Sign language
In the communication of the deaf, two speech systems are distinguished: KZhR (tracing sign speech) and RZhR (Russian sign speech).
- Russian Sign Speech is used for communication between deaf and hard of hearing people in Russia. It differs from tracing sign speech in that it is not accompanied by oral speech, but is used for easy communication.
- Tracing sign speech is used in business communication and accompanied by speech.
It is interesting that the KZhR consists not only of gestures that directly designate a word, it includes words consisting of combinations lexical items with gestures, for example, the word "cabinet" will be represented as follows: k + a + b (letters of the dactyl alphabet) + a gesture meaning the word "room". Also in the KZhR there are words that consist entirely of dactylems - dactyl words, for example: k + o + n + s + e + r + v + a + t + o + r - “conservative”.
To master sign speech, communicate freely in the language of the deaf, use all sources of information - video lessons, video dictionaries, tests, watch films in sign language and, of course, practice communication.
List of useful services, literature, courses and activities for learning sign language:
- The sign language server is a simple assistant for learning sign language, including dactyl alphabets in different languages, a phrasebook, tests, and puzzles. Has a mobile version.
- G.L. Zaitsev Dactylology. Sign speech”, “Russian sign language. A course for beginners ”- among the educational literature, the works of Zaitseva are highlighted. From her books you will learn the history of the formation of sign language, its features, understand the language in structural level and master many gestures.
- A.A. Ignatenko "Collection of exercises and tests on sign speech".
- “Center for the Education of the Deaf and Sign Language. G.L. Zaitseva” conducts sign language courses at three levels: basic course; a course for those with primary communication skills in SL; advanced course. The first two courses are designed for a period of 3 months, after which you will be able to express your thoughts to the deaf.
In addition to learning activities, watch films for the deaf to reinforce your knowledge.
- The St. Petersburg film company Kovcheg makes videos and films for the deaf, and also publishes a video dictionary of Christian gestures. Look for individual films for the deaf on Youtube.
- Visit the "Mimicry and Gesture Theatre" in Moscow, where performances are performed by deaf actors, and translation is carried out for hearing people throughout the program. The actors play expressively, the liveliness of the performances energizes, shows the richness of the sign language, and most importantly, such a performance will be equally pleasant to watch for both deaf and hearing people.
No matter what your reason for learning sign language is, make learning fun and playful, making the process easier as well as faster. Deaf people, whether they be your relatives, friends or colleagues, love to communicate just like you do. By mastering Russian sign language, you will expand your social circle and help people with hearing impairments.
New in 2015 - the release of a CD for teaching Russian Sign Language "Let's get acquainted!". These are specially designed videos for hearing people who want to learn about the culture and language of the deaf.
The course was developed by experts Center for the Education of the Deaf and Sign Language named after Zaitseva.
brief information about the deaf and hard of hearing.
- 100 most used gestures
- Video clips about the rules of communication with the deaf.
- Common phrases/dialogues used in communication.
The release of the disc became possible thanks to the VOG project “Let's Preserve and Learn the Diversity of Russian Sign Language”, partially financially supported by the Russkiy Mir Foundation.
Chapter IT IS IMPORTANT contains gestures:
I
YOU
DEAF
HEARING
TRANSFER
TO HELP
BE IN LOVE
YES
NO
CAN
IT IS FORBIDDEN
HELLO
GOODBYE
THANK YOU
Chapter QUESTIONS contains gestures:
WHO?
WHAT?
WHERE?
WHERE?
WHY?
WHY?
WHERE?
WHICH?
WHOSE?
AS?
WHEN?
Chapter WHO WHAT contains gestures:
FEMALE
THE MALE
HUMAN
MOTHER
DAD
HUSBAND WIFE)
FRIEND
DOCTOR
CAT
DOG
THE ADDRESS
MOBILE PHONE)
THE INTERNET
CITY
BUS
THE CAR
UNDERGROUND
TRAM
TROLLEYBUS
ROUTE
TAXI
AIRPLANE
A TRAIN
THE AIRPORT
RAILWAY STATION
SCORE
MARKET
BANK
HOSPITAL
POLICE
SCHOOL
JOB
Chapter WHAT DO WE DO? contains gestures:
THERE IS
IT WAS
DID NOT HAVE
WILL
WILL NOT
UNDERSTAND
TO FAIL TO UNDERSTAND
KNOW
DONT KNOW
SPEAK
WRITE
TO WANT
DO NOT WANT
REMEMBER
MAKE
RESPOND
TO ASK
Chapter HOW - WHAT? contains gestures:
WELL
BAD
FINE
HURT
SLOWLY
FAST
FEW
LOT
COLD
HOT
DANGEROUSLY
BEAUTIFUL
TASTY
CLEVER
KIND
CALM
Chapter WHEN? contains gestures:
TODAY
YESTERDAY
TOMORROW
MORNING
DAY
EVENING
NIGHT
A WEEK
MONTH
YEAR
Chapter DACTYLOLOGY contains designations of letters of the Russian alphabet.
Chapter NUMERALS contains numbers.
Chapter LET'S TALK
I love you.
What is your name?
How old are you?
Do you study or work?
Where do you work?
I need a job.
I live in Russia.
Give me your address.
Send me an e-mail.
I will send you an SMS.
Let's go for a walk.
It's dangerous to ride a bike here.
Do you have a car?
I have a driver's license.
Do you want tea or coffee?
Be careful, the milk is hot.
I have a deaf son.
this one good Kindergarten for deaf children.
Do you have deaf teachers?
Parents of deaf children should know sign language.
My daughter is hard of hearing, she has a hearing aid, and she does not need a cochlear implant!
Good translators are needed everywhere.
I want to watch movies with subtitles.
There are many talented deaf artists and actors in Russia.
I need a translator.
Should you call a doctor?
Do you want to drink?
I like kids.
Let's play.
Chapter IT IS NECESSARY contains phrases in sign language:
I am deaf.
I am deaf.
I can not hear.
I know some gestures.
Do you know sign language? – I don’t know gestures very well, but I know fingerprinting.
Can I help you?
Do you need an interpreter?
Where do you live?
Where are you from?
Where is the bus-stop?
Metro station is close.
I'm thirsty.
Where is the toilet?
This section provides guidelines for communicating with deaf people and simple dialogues in sign language.
RULES OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING
Rules for communicating with people with hearing impairments:
- look into the face of the interlocutor, do not turn away during the conversation.
- do not raise your voice, but articulate clearly.
- use the services of a sign language interpreter.
- communicate information in writing by any means.
The main ways to attract the attention of the deaf and hard of hearing:
- a pat on the shoulder.
- hand waving.
- knock on the table.
The disc also contains the brochure "What you wanted to know about the deaf", issued by the Central Board of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf to International Day of the Deaf. It briefly outlines general information about deaf people and principles of communication with them. The brochure is written primarily in a question-and-answer format, so it is very easy to read.
How the dictionary works and how to use it
A concise sign dictionary will help you, dear reader, to master the vocabulary of sign speech. This is a small dictionary, it contains about 200 gestures. Why were these gestures chosen? Such questions inevitably arise, especially when the volume of the dictionary is small. Our dictionary was created in this way. Since the dictionary is intended primarily for teachers of the deaf, teachers and educators of schools for the deaf took part in determining the composition of the dictionary. For several years, the author has been offering students of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute working in boarding schools for the deaf a list of gestures - "candidates" for a dictionary. And he turned to them with a request: to leave in the list only the most necessary gestures for the teacher and educator, and delete the rest. But you can add to the list if needed. All gestures that were objected to by more than 50% of expert teachers were excluded from the initial list. Conversely, the vocabulary included gestures proposed by experts if more than half of them believed that it was appropriate.
The gestures included in the dictionary are mainly used in both Russian sign speech and calque sign speech. They are grouped by topic. Of course, the attribution of many gestures to a particular topic is largely conditional. The author here followed the tradition of compiling thematic dictionaries, and also sought to place in each group gestures denoting objects, actions, and signs, so that it would be more convenient to talk on a given topic. At the same time, gestures have continuous numbering. If you, the reader, need to remember, for example, how the gesture INTERFERE is performed, but you do not know which thematic group it is in, you must do so. At the end of the dictionary, all gestures (naturally, their verbal designations) are arranged in alphabetical order, and the ordinal index of the gesture INTERFERE will make it easy to find it in the dictionary.
Symbols in the figures will help to more accurately understand and reproduce the structure of the gesture.
Wishing you success in learning the vocabulary of sign language, the author expects from you, dear reader, suggestions for improving the concise sign dictionary.
Conventions
GREETINGS INTRODUCTION
1. Hello 2. Goodbye
3. Thank you 4. Sorry (those)
GREETINGS INTRODUCTION
5. Name 6. Profession
7. Specialty 8. Who
GREETINGS INTRODUCTION
9. What 10. Where
11. When 12. Where
GREETINGS INTRODUCTION
13. From where 14. Why
15. Why 16. Whose
17. Man 18. Man
19. Woman 20. Child
21. Family 22. Father
23. Mother 24. Son
25. Daughter 26. Grandmother
27. Grandfather 28. Brother
29. Sister 30. Live
31. Work 32. Respect
33. Take care 34. Help
35. Hinder 36. Friendship
37. Young 38. Old
HOUSE APARTMENT
39. City 40. Village
41. Street 42. House
HOUSE APARTMENT
43. Apartment 44. Room
45. Window 46. Kitchen, cook food
HOUSE APARTMENT
47. Lavatory 48. Table
49. Chair 50. Wardrobe
HOUSE APARTMENT
51. Bed 52. TV
53. VCR 54. Do
HOUSE APARTMENT
55. Watch 56. Wash
57. Invite 58. Light
HOUSE APARTMENT
59. Cozy 60. New
61. Clean 62. Dirty
63. School 64. Class
65. Bedroom 66. Dining room
67. Director 68. Teacher
69. Educator 70. Teach
71. Learn 72. Computer
73. Meeting 74. Deaf
75. Hard of hearing 76. Dactylology
77. Sign language 78. Lead
79. Instruct 80. Perform
81. Praise 82. Scold
83. Punish 84. Check
85. Agree 86. Strict
87. Kind 88. Honest
89. Lesson 90. Headphones
91. Book 92. Notebook
93. Pencils 94. Tell
95. Talk 96. Hear
101. Know 102. Don't know
103. Understand 104. Not understand
105. Repeat 106. Remember
107. Remember 108. Forget
109. Think 110. I can, I can
111. I can't 112. Make a mistake
113 Good 114 Bad
115. Carefully 116. Right
117. Ashamed 118. Angry, angry
119. Rude 120. Polite
121. Apprentice
122. Diligent
ON VACATION
123. Rest 124. Forest
125. River 126. Sea
ON VACATION
127. Water 128. Sun
129. Moon 130. Rain
ON VACATION
131. Snow 133. Day
132. Morning 134. Evening
ON VACATION
135. Night 136. Summer
137. Autumn 138. Spring
ON VACATION
139. Winter 140. Excursion, museum
141. Theater 142. Cinema
ON VACATION
143. Stadium 144. Physical education
145. Competition 146. Participate
ON VACATION
147. Win 148. Lose
149. Play 150. Walk
ON VACATION
151. Dance 152. Want
153. Not wanting 154. Loving
ON VACATION
155. Rejoice 156. Wait
157. Cheating 158. Cheerful
ON VACATION
159. Agile 160. Strong
161. Weak 162. Easy
ON VACATION
163. Difficult 164. Calm
165. White 166. Red
ON VACATION
167. Black 168. Green
OUR COUNTRY
169. Motherland
170. State 171. Moscow
OUR COUNTRY
172. People 173. Revolution
174. Party 175. President
OUR COUNTRY
176 Struggle 177 Constitution
178. Elections, choose 179. Deputy
OUR COUNTRY
180. Chairman 181. Government
182. Translator 183. Glasnost
OUR COUNTRY
184. Democracy 185. War
186. World 187. Army
OUR COUNTRY
188. Disarmament
189. Treaty 190. Space
OUR COUNTRY
191. Protect 192. Politics
WHAT THESE GESTURES MEAN
193, 194. Sign name (person's name in sign language)
195. Master of his craft 196. Master of his craft (option)
WHAT THESE GESTURES MEAN
197. It doesn't concern me 198. Make mistakes
199. Do not catch (at home, at work) 200. Awesome,
stunning
201. Same, identical 202. Calm down after
any unrest
203. Get exhausted 204. That's it
GESTURES OF CONVERSATIONAL SIGN LANGUAGE
205. Lose sight, forget 206. Cats scratch at the heart
207. Don't be afraid to say 208. Wait a bit
something in the eye
Gesture index in alphabetical order
| army | make | ||
| grandmother | democracy | ||
| day | |||
| white | deputy | ||
| fight | village | ||
| brother | director | ||
| polite | kind | ||
| treaty | |||
| right | rain | ||
| cheerful | house | ||
| Spring | goodbye | ||
| evening | daughter | ||
| video recorder | friendship | ||
| attentively | think | ||
| water | |||
| war | wait | ||
| educator | female | ||
| recall | gestural speech | ||
| elections, choose | live | ||
| fulfill | |||
| where publicity deaf talk city state rude dirty walk fingering grandpa | take care | ||
| forget | |||
| why | |||
| protect | |||
| hello | |||
| green | |||
| winter | |||
| angry, angry | |||
| know | |||
| play | |||
| sorry (those) | |||
| name |
| pencil | deceive | ||||
| flat | window | ||||
| cinema | autumn | ||||
| Class | rest | ||||
| book | father | ||||
| when | where | ||||
| room | make a mistake | ||||
| computer constitution space red bed who where kitchen, cook food | |||||
| the consignment | |||||
| interpreter | |||||
| write | |||||
| bad | |||||
| win | |||||
| repeat | |||||
| politics | |||||
| remember | |||||
| easily | to help | ||||
| forest | understand | ||||
| summer | entrust | ||||
| dexterous | why | ||||
| moon | government | ||||
| be in love | chairman | ||||
| invite the president to check lose profession | |||||
| mother | |||||
| interfere | |||||
| world | |||||
| can, can | |||||
| young sea Moscow man wash | |||||
| work | |||||
| rejoice | |||||
| disarmament | |||||
| tell | |||||
| child revolution river draw motherland scold | |||||
| punish | |||||
| people | |||||
| headphones | |||||
| dont know | |||||
| I can not | lead | ||||
| do not understand do not want a new night | |||||
| light | |||||
| family | |||||
| sister strong hearing-impaired weak hear watch snow meeting agree sun competition bedroom thank you specialty calmly stadium diligent old table canteen strict chair ashamed to count son dance theater TV notebook difficult | restroom | ||||
| respect | |||||
| the street | |||||
| lesson | |||||
| morning | |||||
| participate | |||||
| teacher | |||||
| learn | |||||
| student | |||||
| to study | |||||
| cosy | |||||
| physical education praise good want | |||||
| whose man is black honest clean read that closet school tour museum | |||||
Day of the sign language interpreter was established in January 2003 at the initiative of the Central Board of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf. All-Russian public organization The All-Russian Society of the Deaf (VOG) is the largest and oldest public organization of the hearing impaired in Russia, founded in 1926.
The purpose of the Day of the sign language interpreter is to draw public attention to the problems of the deaf. For comparison, if in Finland there are 300 sign language interpreters for every thousand deaf people, then in Russia there are only three. And over time, the number of sign language interpreters is only getting smaller. At the same time, the work of a sign language interpreter is invaluable socially for the deaf community, because he is needed in court, the police, the tax office, for social protection, at the doctor's office and so on.
Usually, sign language interpreters are children of deaf parents who grew up in a “deaf” environment. You can get an education in this specialty in training centers St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The language that sign language interpreters “speak” from the screen or with their clients is sign language, and several million people around the world communicate in it. In some countries, it has long been officially recognized and is used to adapt news programs and various programs for people with hearing problems.
By the way, on October 24, the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the first reading adopted a bill raising the status of Russian sign language. Thanks to amendments to the laws "On Education" and "On the Social Protection of Disabled Persons in the Russian Federation", Russian Sign Language is now defined as the language of communication in the presence of hearing or speech impairments, including in the areas of oral use state language RF.
The special significance of this bill is that the official recognition of the status of the Russian sign language will create the necessary conditions for educational institutions to receive education for the hearing impaired using sign language, to build a system of training and retraining of teachers on the basis of secondary and higher professional educational institutions, according to the website VOGinfo.ru.
How to communicate with a person in the language of the deaf?
sign language
First, one of the major misconceptions about sign languages is that they are dependent on or derived from spoken languages (sound and written) and that these languages were invented by hearers. This is not true. Secondly, dactyling of letters is often taken for sign languages - that is, when the letters are “depicted” by hands.
The difference between dactylology and sign language, which the deaf communicate with each other, is that dactylology is used mainly for pronouncing proper names, geographical names or specific terms, that is, each word is “showed” by hand letter by letter. At the same time, sign signs represent whole words, and in total there are more than 2000 gestures in the dictionary of the deaf. Show some of them will not be difficult.
For example:
You can learn more about sign language from a well-known book. G. L. Zaitseva“Gesture speech. Dactylology".
It is easier to get acquainted with the basics of dactylology - there is a well-established alphabet, and by spelling the word with gestures, you can communicate with a deaf person. There are 33 dactyl signs in Russian dactylology, each of which corresponds to the outline of the corresponding letter.
Russian dactyl alphabet from the site deafnet.ru:
Note that deaf or hearing-impaired person, most likely, will understand what exactly you want to tell him without sign language, because for the most part they read lips very well.
This post has been brewing for a little over six months. And finally, I got around to finishing it and summing it up.
There are more than 13 million deaf and hard of hearing people in Russia. The birth of a child with hearing impairment in the family is a difficult test both for parents and for the child himself, who needs special teaching aids and, most importantly, communication with peers and relatives. Fortunately, the Russian Society of the Deaf is actively working on this front. Thanks to the activities of its branches, people with hearing impairments unite and communicate with each other without feeling excluded from the social process.
There are also problems: the lack of educational institutions that accept people with hearing impairments, the lack of sign language interpreters and teaching aids, allowing to master the sign language.
The idea to learn Russian sign language and help as a sign language interpreter came to me a long time ago. But since then and to this day, I can not find the time. Materials have already been found, all the necessary information and yet there is no time. Well, okay, let's start small - with the primary educational program, so to speak.
Russian Sign Language is an independent language unit used for communication by people with hearing impairments.
Sign language does not consist only of a static figure shown by hands - it also contains a dynamic component (the hands move in a certain way and are in a certain position relative to the face) and a mimic component (the speaker's facial expression illustrates the gesture). Also, during a conversation in gestuno, it is customary to "pronounce" words with your lips.
In addition to this, when communicating with people with hearing impairments, you should be extremely attentive to your posture and involuntary hand gestures - they can be misinterpreted.
The basis of sign language is the dactyl (finger) alphabet. Each letter of the Russian language corresponds to a certain gesture (see picture).
Knowing this alphabet will help at first to overcome the "language barrier" between you and a person with a hearing impairment. But Dactyling (spelling) is rarely used by the deaf in everyday speech. Its main purpose is to pronounce proper names, as well as terms for which their own gesture has not yet been formed.
For most words in Russian Sign Language, there is a gesture that denotes the whole word. At the same time, I want to note that almost all gestures are intuitive and very logical. For example: 
"Writing" - we kind of take a pen and write on the palm of our hand. "Count" - we begin to bend our fingers. "Grandfather" - very reminiscent of a beard, right? Sometimes in gestures for complex concepts, you simply marvel at how accurately the essence of the subject is noticed.
The structure of sign language is not complicated at all. The word order corresponds to the usual sentences of the Russian language. For prepositions and conjunctions of one letter, their dactyl gesture (a letter from the alphabet) is used. Verbs are not conjugated or declined. To indicate time, it is enough to give a marker word (Yesterday, Tomorrow, 2 days ago) or put the gesture "was" before the verb.
Like any other language, Russian sign language is very lively, changes all the time and varies greatly from region to region. Benefits and educational materials updated at a snail's pace. Therefore, the recent publication of a primer for children with hearing impairments has become a real event.
The basic gestures with which you can communicate with deaf people are quite elementary: 
Forgive me for the handicraft execution, I literally made the plate "on my knee" based on the materials of the 1980 textbook. I note that the word "I" is often shown with the letter I from the alphabet.
But the main difficulty lies not even in the basis of gestures, but in learning to "read" them from the hands. At first, I had to face the fact that gestures are complex - they consist of several brush positions following one after another. And out of habit, it’s damned difficult to separate the end of one gesture and the beginning of another. Therefore, learning zhestuno, in my opinion, will take no less time than studying any foreign language, and maybe more.
The materials on the study of gestuno, which I managed to find on the net, are rather scarce. However:
1. Textbook "Learning gestuno" 1980 edition
2. Dictionary of gestures, approximately the same age as the textbook
3. Training on the knowledge of letters - they show you a gesture, you enter a letter. Entered incorrectly - the face is upset.
5. Relatively new video tutorial on Russian sign language. Archived into a five-part multi-volume archive. The password for the archives (it was apparently set by the author of the manual) is wonderful - Balrog. Attention: the manual does not open on 64-bit Windows =(
Piece 1
Piece 2
Piece 3
Piece 4
Piece 5
6. Translation review literature on the meaning of gestures and facial expressions
All materials for safety were re-uploaded by me to Yandex and also duplicated on the hard disk. On the net, you never know if you can find this or that book again.
Well, in conclusion, I want to say one more thing. I often see people with hearing impairments in the subway and on the street, in cafes. These are cheerful, shining people, completely ordinary, just having other ways of communicating. Deafness does not prevent them from being happy - having friends, a favorite job and a family. They can even sing and dance on zhestuno - yes, yes, people with hearing impairments still hear music, perceiving its wave vibrations.
But at the same time, the thought does not leave me that simply by mastering a couple of gestures, society can make their life much easier and more convenient. I will think, if I still take up the study of gestuno and it will not irritate my friends, I will gradually publish simple phrases in gestuno for everyday use - so that they can be studied and applied if necessary.
